Former troops answer new call

Wounded veterans form rich labor pool for government contractors

By David Hubler

Dec 05, 2007

Beau Barnett was an Air Force contractspecialist when his left thumb was torn offin a training accident. Although the thumbwas surgically reattached, Barnett no longerhas full use of the finger. Later, while stationedin Kirkuk, Iraq, he broke his foot andit never healed correctly.

Today Barnett is one of about 15 contractspecialists hired by CACI International Inc.to work at the Missile Defense Agency inHuntsville, Ala. He oversees vehicle leasing,daily services contracts and other activitiesfor the military agency.

Mayo Van Dyck was an Army satellitecommunications operator when he sustaineda severe back injury in South Koreain 1998 and underwent surgery after reinjuringhis back in Kosovo, Serbia. He thenspent time at the Walter Reed ArmyMedical Center in outpatient treatment,where he met aCACI recruiter lastwinter.

Van Dyck washired in May underthe company's newDeploying Talent-Creating Careersprogram, designedto bring qualifieddisabled veteransinto the company.He is now a CACIquality assuranceengineer inManassas, Va., testing the satellite communicationssystems being built by CACIclients to ensure they meet all properspecifications.

"We have been reaching out through avariety of channels to disabled veterans whoare trying to restart their careers and lookingfor meaningful employment," said PaulCofoni, CACI president and chief executiveofficer.

"We're giving them an opportunity tohave a meaningful career, and they bring tous enormous experience by virtue of whatthey've been doing in warfighter-relatedareas for the last several years," he said.

More than 20,000 wounded and disabledU.S. veterans have returned from Iraqand Afghanistan, and more will be cominghome during the next several years.Cofoni views their employment prospectsas a national problem. The company, however,views those veterans as a relativelyuntapped pool of potential employees,many of whom have information technology,intelligence and defense expertise inaddition to high-level security clearances.

The more businesses can do to help,Cofoni said, the less likely it is that today'sservice men and women will face the situationthat occurred in the Vietnam war era,when many disabled veterans returnedhome suffering from social dislocation andwere unable to find work.

CACI's program ? which officially beganin July ? has already exceeded expectations.

"We set a goal initially that we weregoing to hire 10 this fiscal year, and we'realready past that," Cofoni said. "It's good forus and it's good for them, of course, and it'sgood for the country."

The program gives disabled veterans dignityand productive work, he said.

Larry Clifton, CACI's personnel director, said the goal of Deploying Talent-CreatingCareers is simply to provide meaningfuljobs to talented veterans transitioning tocivilian life "so they can take care of theirfamilies just like everybody else." Clifton directs the program with the helpof Jaime Whitaker, the company's staffingand recruiting manager.

"Technically, I'm looking for anybodywho's got some IT skillset that we can use,"Whitaker said. "We've hired people into alldifferent positions. We actually have a [disabled]recruiter that we've hired."

CACI casts its recruiting net widely byparticipating in job fairs on military basesand hospitals and advertising on theInternet. "We go out and post our positionson special sites for returning veterans suchas VetJobs and Early Eagle," she said.

The outreach program extends acrossthe country, with no limit on the number ofdisabled veterans CACI will hire. CACI hasrecruited at various military job fairs fromSan Diego to New Jersey. "There's not oneparticular place where we're finding thesepeople," Clifton said.

Van Dyck said he had a good impressionof the company from his contacts withCACI employees when he was in the Army.That impression was reinforced when hemet CACI recruiters at Walter Reed. "Therecruiters had this great positive attitude. Ididn't feel like they were giving me anybull."

CACI also works with the ParalyzedVeterans associations and the ArmedForces Foundation's career counseling programat Fort Bragg, N.C., Whitaker said.The program advises disabled SpecialForces soldiers whose injuries have forcedthem to leave the military.

"We're now getting involved with theirReal Lifelines program," she added, whichworks with disabled veterans in medicalfacilities to help them write their résumésand advise them on how to write abouttheir military career and skills in languagethat civilian placement officials can readilyunderstand.

CACI evaluates all résumés against thepositions available, Clifton said. Disabledveterans do not get special preference,although "we do try to incentivise the programa little bit to hire these people"through such programs as special employeebonuses for successful referrals of disabledveterans.

When the program was being organized,Clifton said, he thought the initial newhires would be placed in traditional supportpositions such as human resourcesand finance and accounting. "But I amhappy to say that of those 11, 10 are in whatwe call billable positions on client sites.They're right in with clients, which is agood thing for them also."

"Once I got here, I realized it was theplace to be," Barnett said of his job inHuntsville. He added that accepting theCACI job offer "was one of the best things Iever did."

Whitaker said the program has also hada positive effect on the company's clients.

"We do a lot of work with DOD, so it makessense for us to be bringing in candidateswho are exceptionally qualified, who notonly have a lot to offer our company buthave a lot to offer our clients as well."

Clifton credits Cofoni as the inspirationbehind the program. "He got us all energized,and put together [the founding]committee, which he still chairs himselfonce a month."

Deploying Talent-Creating Careers hastaken on a life of its own, he said. "We justhired two more [disabled veterans] lastweek." And a full-time recruiter will joinCACI in January specifically to work withWhitaker on hiring more disabled veterans.

"We're committed to make this a longtermprogram," Clifton said.

Associate Editor David Hubler can be reached atdhubler@1105govinfo.com.

About the Author

David Hubler is the former print managing editor for GCN and senior editor for Washington Technology. He is freelance writer living in Annandale, Va.

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